


Point of No Return

by dementorsatemysoup



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Spoilers, like major spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 22:53:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15277950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dementorsatemysoup/pseuds/dementorsatemysoup
Summary: The Mighty Nein deals with yet another loss.





	Point of No Return

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly written for my own peace of mind. I don't know what they have planned for Molly (ideally I'd love to see them bring him back somehow but that's probably not likely), and until episode 27 we won't know, so lets suffer together folks. Thank you for reading

The moment the Iron Shepherds are out of earshot, Beau stalks towards the downed tree and starts hitting it with her staff. She hits it once, twice, and then drops her staff, breathing heavily through her nose, burying her hands in her hair. She paces furiously, swearing under her breath, and kicks the tree when she walks past it.

“Shit,” Keg mutters, turning to Caleb and Nott. Caleb isn’t looking at her, his dark gaze watching the Shepherds’ retreating forms. He’s visibly shaking, hands curled into fists at his side, the left one smoking. Nott is hunched in on herself, arms curled around her body, her wide-eyed gaze looking at Molly’s body.

Keg forces herself to look towards the fallen tiefling and her stomach clenches with guilt. Hundreds of scenarios race through her head; from not telling The Neins who the Shepherds were until they got to The Run to walking away from The Neins the moment she saw them. Anything would have been better than watching these three broken people deal with yet another loss so soon after their remaining party members were kidnapped.

Keg hates dwelling on the should haves, hates reliving her mistakes, hates reminding herself where she fucked up, but she can’t help it this time. The gods were not on their side for this fight.

“We can’t leave him here,” Nott says softly, still looking at Molly’s body, and Keg is startled to see tears clinging to her lashes. She looks up at Caleb, lost and scared, and repeats, “We can’t leave him here.”

“We won’t,” he says numbly, finally tearing his eyes away from where the Shepherds disappeared to look over at his friend’s crumpled body. His face falls and he swallows heavily, his hands uncurling. He seeks out Nott’s hand, squeezing it, and she squeezes back.

“Should we...?” Nott trails off, gripping Caleb’s hand tighter. “Should we bury him?”

“I don’t. I don’t know if we have the tools. And something tells me.” He draws in a shaky breath, letting it out slowly. “Something tells me Mollymauk wouldn’t appreciate that,” Caleb murmurs, his voice shaking, and he seeks out Beau, looking just as lost as Nott. “What? What do we do?”

Beau has stopped pacing, her back to the others, shoulders tense, body ramrod straight. She’s too still, almost frighteningly so, and Keg is counting the minutes until she snaps completely.

“We’re gonna kill those bastards,” she says bluntly. “For Fjord.” She kicks the tree. “For Jester.” She kicks it again. “For Yasha.” She kicks it one more time, harder than before, and sends a piece of bark flying through the air. “For Molly,” she whispers, hanging her head.

She draws in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and looks towards Molly. All the tension leaves her body and she stumbles towards him, wincing in pain, and it’s then that Keg remembers Beau had also taken a few hits during their fight.

“What are you doing?” she asks, looking at Caleb and Nott for answers, but they’re already moving, too, following Beau.

Keg trails after them, hanging back, watching as they kneel down next to their friend. Caleb reaches out with trembling fingers and closes Molly’s eyes. He pulls his hand back slowly, almost expecting Molly to wake up and give them one of his cheeky smiles, maybe make a teasing remark, but he remains still. Caleb curls his hand into a fist again, hanging his head, and closes his eyes.

“We can’t. We can’t leave him here,” Nott says again, looking between Caleb and Beau.

“We won’t,” Beau responds, shoving herself to her feet. She stalks towards where they left the horses, picking her staff up when she walks by it.

“Where are you going?” Keg calls after her.

“To get the fucking horses.”

“Why?”

Beau whirls around, her face twisted with anger and anguish, and she snaps, “Because we can’t very well take him to Shady Creek Run without them.”

“For what?” Keg gestures to Molly, trying to sound sympathetic when she says, “He’s gone.”

“I know he’s gone,” Beau snarls taking a few steps towards Keg. “I can fucking see that he’s gone.”

“Beauregard.” Caleb doesn’t raise his voice but Beau stops, turning her gaze on him, and her face softens slightly.

She looks back at Keg and calmly asks, “There are clerics in The Run, right?”

Keg shrugs. “Probably.”

“Good.” Beau turns and starts heading towards the horses again. “We’re gonna find a cleric and make them bring him back.”

“How? These people don’t do anything without getting something in return.” Keg knows Shady Creek Run better than most, has enough scars to prove it. What Beau is proposing most likely isn’t possible.

“We’ll bribe them or threaten them! I don’t care!” Beau keeps walking, calling over her shoulder, “But we’re bringing him back!”

“This is a stupid plan,” Keg says to Caleb and Nott.

Caleb shrugs and says, “It is, but it’s the only one we have right now.” He stands up and trails after Beau, keeping his head down, and Keg turns her frustrated gaze on Nott.

“He’s our friend,” Nott says softly, still looking down at Molly. “I didn’t like him for a while, and I really didn’t trust him for even longer, but he’s our friend.” She gives Keg a helpless look and asks, “Wouldn’t you do the same? If this were your friend?”

Keg crosses her arms, and chews on her cheek, hating the guilt that continues to bubble in her gut. She makes the mistake of looking at Molly and she feels her resolve crack. She lets out a harsh breath, uncrossing her arms, and throws her hands in the air. “Fucking fine. Let’s go do something stupid.”

Nott nods, her eyes settling on Molly again. Keg knows this is going to go to hell, especially if they can’t bring their friend back, but she also knows Beau will probably tear her way through Shady Creek Run until she finds someone who can help them.

_This is going to be a fucking mess._


End file.
